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This is a prime example of why standards in the Digital slot car world are necessary. How and why would a third party develop anything based on other proprietary hardware.

However a set of standards developed for this industry would allow VIASUE and others to have a degree of confidence that what they were spending there time and effort on could not be subject to the whims and actions of another party where they could be left high and dry.

We have already seen that with SCX digital. Their failure hurts all who have invested in that system. Had standards been used then the orphaned SCX digital stuff still could be matched with the survivors equipment, and not been a total loss to those unfortunate consumers.

Hornby is in financial trouble now. So what is next. Could Scalextrics be sold off to someone who has a different vision of what slot car racing should be, hanging more consumers out to dry.

Carrera has also risen from the ashes of bankrupcy not all that long ago. The industry needs standards, and needs to work together for the benefit of all. That way if and when there are company failures the hardware can still be utilized in the systems that remain.

In this particular case standards on IR frequency and data packets would provide Viasue with the stability it needed to build a system that would work on all digital systems. The time and effort they put it has a larger appeal, and probably would make sense

For interested Carrera digital users you can download Bruce's shareware for free and it has all the timing features you need, and will time and count laps for all 6 cars on a two lane track regardless of what lane they are in. It uses the Hardware in the Carrera track and there is nothing that needs to be added.

Nice concept but then you limit the range of products offered by the manufactures and stifles development. Don't forget mass production leads to the cheapest option to manufacturers, not necessarily the best technology available. Currently we have multi protocol products in the market that can run analogue and digital etc. So in a real world it can't work. And again the big 3 console manufacturers prove this with all 3 having different systems for the best part of 20 years with no arguments from the masses. Why should one company share their latest innovations with their opposition.

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As far as hardware goes Scorpius offers its lap counting system that works with analogue light bridges and Scorpius Race Management software. The system used IR LEDs that the car picks up then sends data back to the computer bus wireless but these same LEDs will trigger a light bridge.
But not Carrera compatible but we could add firmware (I know the Carrera protocols) and software to work with currently available hardware and have the software available in our digital management system that could be easily transferred to Race Coordinator but how many would use this idea? It's far easier to have 2 lots of lapcounter hardware.

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RMS- Race Management Software that works with wifi / radio / BT etc will be required
Very Small, low cost, light weight wifi / radio / BT Transmitters and Receivers will be required
The ability to run the cars id chip set off of track / car power
A wide range of frequencies and or ID chips like in RC cars and RC airplane but fit ho through the larger scales

BUT the key phrase and top dog in all of this is not so much hardware... which for the rich and famous is of no issue but for all the other considerations its all about the::

RMS that does more than simply show a digital display in a stand alone digital display hardware format for car 1 through however many cars....

A RMS , wifi or not, with id chips or not....does way more than just flash a time for your lap as with most stand alone digital offerings = display hardware etc ... that we have seen to date , including the other OEM's and software mentioned in this string....they will always fall short of what a PC running a RMS can do every single time .....they just dont have the flexibility or depth of function and services a true RMS offers....hence fall way short in substance and perhaps even accuracy and or reliability?? What good is it just yo know your fastest time for example or that you finished all the laps first and won the race ??

So our ideal is a wifi RMS sytsem that limits the amount of cables and hardware required, is plug and play 100% or as close as possible and of course can discriminate between each car to record data as accurate and reliable as our system in fact is....it works great and powered by what we feel is the best RMS out there .....THE Plug and Play version of Race Coordinator and with Daves help and great efforts we both are dialing in on what is needed to do the above while maintaining our high standards....it takes time , money and R&D , then more time, money and R&D, .....lol ....thats the fun part right ....lol

VIASUE
And or is this subject fall under ::
Be careful of what you wish for because you may not be able to afford it.....
OR is that what OEM's are afraid of ??

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This is my 1st post out of SCX Digital and probably my last b/c I tend to annoy people getting off topic. Anyway, I came from rc cars to digital slots. I could not be happier with digital slots b/c it is way more enjoyable to race/share digital slots with kids/other people vs rc cars. I have been looking for a RMS to increase the realism of the slot experience. RC manufacturers have recently greatly increased the user interaction with rc cars using telemetry software and integrated wifi/bluetooth and the user's smart device. There has to be a convergence in the future between mini rc cars and digital slots with RMS. That would bring tons more users to digital slots. Right now if the future SCX WOS app doesn't deliver I am going to have to invest in either the Scorpius or Viasue/RaceCoordinator system. In a fairy land I would have a RMS option that would just interact with the SCX WOS power module's factory bluetooth.

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.....but we could add firmware (I know the Carrera protocols) and software to work with currently available hardware and have the software available in our digital management system that could be easily transferred to Race Coordinator but how many would use this idea?....

You would be surprised how many Carrera Digital race track customers would go for it. It just might be worth it?

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Nice concept but then you limit the range of products offered by the manufactures and stifles development. Don't forget mass production leads to the cheapest option to manufacturers, not necessarily the best technology available. Currently we have multi protocol products in the market that can run analogue and digital etc. So in a real world it can't work. And again the big 3 console manufacturers prove this with all 3 having different systems for the best part of 20 years with no arguments from the masses. Why should one company share their latest innovations with their opposition.
eer
Rick

WE at VIASUE love these two posts :: This is our take on them ::Simply stated none of us would have what we call Personal Computers (PC's) "as we know them today" IF it was not for the mission statement of IBM "To share FREELY the advances of IBM'S technical advances" with the masses INCLUDING other OEM'S to build AFFORDABLE "Clone PC's to make it possible to have a Personal Computer in every home and workplace world wide....this would have never happened IF all technology WAS THEN OR IS NOW handled as PROPRIETARY ...not yelling just going BIG ....This concept of affordability and world wide consumption was spearheaded by leading example of FORD MOTOR COMPANY ...as one more counter to "Proprietary" anything....which by the way "Proprietary Black Listing" contributes o tmany if not all hardware and software arguments AND failures, of the past ( like modems and faxes that could not even "handshake" for a common connection due to the lack of protocols and standards back then and even today.) ..expossed again VIA this friendly post / friendly argument / and desires for a better hobby via efforts like VIASUE's and RC's...
or
To be totally fair IBM only shared enough technology to achieve their goal of a PC for every household ...but IBM rarely built systems for other oem's or vice versa at least not until IBM achieved its primary company mission in spades
OH lets not forget to thank the FORD companies efforts to mass produce for the masses , world wide....affordable cars !! We dont see Maserati's for anyone, now do we ??

In defense of the Italian Maserati its a great platform...and we would like to point out, perhaps in contrast,, the Germans back in WWII built the Biggest, strongest, Quickest, Fastest and most deadly platforms world wide.....just ask any WWII vet....HOWEVER allies S H A R I N G their advances defeated the "Proprietary Death Machine" of the Germans...THEN German advancements were back engendered and shared world wide...just ask NASA

Thanks for contributing to our forum ...its folks like you who keep our hobby going >>>-------->

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Agree totally on the proprietary thing. This thinking almost killed Apple. It was only when they opened up their architecture to others that their products took off.

I have stated this many times. Slot car manufactures need to come together on a basic digital system for the greater good of the hobby. Something that still allows manufacturer advances, but still allows basic compatiblity across the brands.

Hornby was or is in financial trouble. What happens if they pull the plug on digital. There are too many orphaned systems, and there will be more if the industry isn't careful. Orphaned systems do no one any good, and in fact can drive people away into something else.

DCC technology in Model Railroading was shared and as a result multiple manufactures can build locomotives that operate on my different systems.

For timing I use the VIASUE/RC system as well as my Carrera Digital System. This allows me to run timed race events in either Digital or Analog mode.

Hooking up the VIASUE hardware was a breeze, and it, with Race Coordinator, has been great.

Carrera Digital, with the fueling option and lane changing, is just at a different level than Analog racing. However for solo running, I use the analog set up 90% of the time.

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For what its worth, I briefly looked into supporting Carrera Digital in RCD (Race Coordinator Digital). However the only documentation I found online about the protocol was a translation from German and hard for my little brain to read. Couple that with the fact that I don't have the setup to do testing and it just doesn't seem worth my effort to support.

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For what its worth, I briefly looked into supporting Carrera Digital in RCD (Race Coordinator Digital). However the only documentation I found online about the protocol was a translation from German and hard for my little brain to read. Couple that with the fact that I don't have the setup to do testing and it just doesn't seem worth my effort to support.